Mark Miller, a former American Media Inc. employee, has been charged with distributing child pornography in New Jersey.Facebook

Prosecutors said Miller was caught sharing the images in an undercover Department of Homeland Security investigation. Miller used a group messaging feature in a mobile application to send the photos, according to the criminal complaint.

He faces up to 20 years in federal prison and as much as a $250,000 fine.

An attorney for Miller could not immediately be reached by NBC News for comment.

Miller, who lives in Bloomsbury, New Jersey, has spent the majority of his career in publishing, including a long history at The Star-Ledger newspaper based in Newark.

Representatives for AMI confirmed to NBC News that Miller was an employee at the company from 2014 until 2017.

A spokesman for Audible, which is owned by Amazon, told NBC News Thursday that Miller was a contracted employee at the company and that his contract has been terminated.